Bank of America Backs Down from $5 Debit Card Fee

Rarely does a company get such immediate and negative feedback from its customers as Bank of America did when they announced a new $5 fee for debit card users one month ago.

At the time, their spokeswoman Anne Pace said “the economics of offering debit cards have changed.” But apparently they haven’t changed enough to allow the $5 fee to withstand all the blistering criticism that rained down upon the bank.

Today Bank of America has announced it won’t institute the fee after all. A statement released by the bank says:

“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee. Our customers’ voices are the most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

One of the things that drives us here at ReadyForZero is helping people avoid paying excessive fees and interest, so we’re glad that Bank of America decided to drop this idea.

That decision puts them on a growing list of banks who have chosen not to implement monthly fees on debit card users, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, SunTrust Bank, Regions Financial, U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup, PNC Financial Services, and KeyCorp.

We’re also excited by how regular people joined together in voicing their opposition to the fee. Molly Katchpole, a recent college graduate, started a petition at Change.org and over 300,000 people signed onto it, garnering attention from national media outlets.

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You can see a sample of ABC’s coverage in the video below:

Congrats to those who signed the petition and successfully convinced Bank of America to reconsider the $5 fee. And if you think your bank or credit card company is charging excessive or unwarranted fees, let us know on Facebook or Twitter, or in a comment below this article!

This post was published by Ben, Content Manager and Writer for » ReadyForZero.
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